Page 1810

84 Document No. 30. . [Session
accuracy of some of the returns in the accompanying
tables, on account of the laxity of the laws on the subject.
To be of value, statistics must be reliable and accurate.
That the beneficent effects of modern sanitation may be
made evident to the public, it must be done by a compari-son
of the death-rate of the town before and after the sani-tary
measures are instituted. But if before these meas-ures
are instituted the deaths are not carefully reported,
the death-rate before may appear less than that after,
because before all the deaths were not recorded while
afterwards the}- were.
Another important step would be to have a record of the
ages at which deaths occur, for if, after a lapse of a few
years, the average time of death be advanced two or three
years, it would be to the credit of sanitation that it had
added these two or three years to each of the lives of as
many persons as had died. Suppose, for instance, the
deaths in 1890 were at an average age of forty \ ears,
while those in 1889 were at thirty-nine years. This
would show, if the deaths were the same, a saving of
1,803 years, and this of adult life, too, to the State, an
equivalent of about forty-five lives. In this way it can
plainly be seen that, even if the actual death-rate be the
same, if the average age of death be advanced, or, in other
words, the length of life of our people be increased by
one year, much good has been accomplished. But this
cannot be shown unless the ages of persons dying be
recorded.
COMPARATIVE CONDITION OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
In March, 1890, a letter was sent from this office to each
Superintendent of Health, asking him to state what
improvements had been made in the jails and poor-houses
of their respective counties since the organization of their

Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.

84 Document No. 30. . [Session
accuracy of some of the returns in the accompanying
tables, on account of the laxity of the laws on the subject.
To be of value, statistics must be reliable and accurate.
That the beneficent effects of modern sanitation may be
made evident to the public, it must be done by a compari-son
of the death-rate of the town before and after the sani-tary
measures are instituted. But if before these meas-ures
are instituted the deaths are not carefully reported,
the death-rate before may appear less than that after,
because before all the deaths were not recorded while
afterwards the}- were.
Another important step would be to have a record of the
ages at which deaths occur, for if, after a lapse of a few
years, the average time of death be advanced two or three
years, it would be to the credit of sanitation that it had
added these two or three years to each of the lives of as
many persons as had died. Suppose, for instance, the
deaths in 1890 were at an average age of forty \ ears,
while those in 1889 were at thirty-nine years. This
would show, if the deaths were the same, a saving of
1,803 years, and this of adult life, too, to the State, an
equivalent of about forty-five lives. In this way it can
plainly be seen that, even if the actual death-rate be the
same, if the average age of death be advanced, or, in other
words, the length of life of our people be increased by
one year, much good has been accomplished. But this
cannot be shown unless the ages of persons dying be
recorded.
COMPARATIVE CONDITION OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
In March, 1890, a letter was sent from this office to each
Superintendent of Health, asking him to state what
improvements had been made in the jails and poor-houses
of their respective counties since the organization of their